Satnav flawed

[DITTRICH]

I've yet to find a COMAND unit that has anything other than a female voice.

The Teleatlas (CD) disks are updated twice per year so should be reasonably up to date. The newer DVD updates are infrequent. Last year there were three updates in quick succession!

I should have clarified that my unit is NOT 'command' unit but a garmin unit linked to a kenwood tocuhscreen dvd player. They use NAVTEQ data and as far as I know I have something called Europe NT v8 and the current v9 was issued in september 2006 - command I don't have and so can't comment on it. Apologies for any confusion caused.
Les

 

[frog1520]

You should try Reading or Oxford, especially if your maps are a bit out of date.

Or liverpool city center! Anywhere theres a lot of roadworks / development going in, you're going to have fun...

 

[Mega_Angelic]

Yes I tried the male voice...but it didn't seem right. However the female voice is more relaxing. She's not very chatty though. A bit stand-offish.

Does anyone know how to get comand to use a male voice? i saw a thred on another site about updating the disk to use the uk accent instead of the us one on a us system, and they mentioned that it should be possible to do the same sort of thing to get it to use the uk or us male voices but they didnt try it to show how to, I HATE the fact that it uses a female voice,

 

[Dragon]

Sat Nav are amazing technology. A lot of works had been put into it for years. It started in ship and airline navigation. Without it they have to rely on the Polar star. I first started using it in 1996 and the technology had advanced since but there are still hicchup but then it depends how much you really want to spend. The accurate one costs thousands. No point of spending more than £100 to travel from A to B and neither it useful if already know where you are going to say your weekly supermarket trips.

It useful for logistic and places you haven't been. I noticed the ParcelForce equip their delivery vans with one. Tap in the postcode and you definitely can find it. It just you have to justify the use of it instead of your expectation.

 

[st13phil]

They use NAVTEQ data and as far as I know I have something called Europe NT v8 and the current v9 was issued in september 2006

The coverage of Spain in City Navigator Europe NT v8 is patchy and incomplete even in major cities. It improved significantly in v9. For info for those using Garmin sat-nav's, City Navigator Europe NT 2008 has been available since February this year, and the coverage of eastern Europe has improved significantly from CN 9NT. Lots of other improved coverage too.

For portable sat-nav's I'd suggest updating the cartography to the latest edition every two years unless you have specific needs that the next version addresses. After 4-5 years consider replacing the sat-nav unit itself due to improvements in processing technology that allow additional routing attributes to be used.

 

[Dragon]

The coverage of Spain in City Navigator Europe NT v8 is patchy and incomplete even in major cities. It improved significantly in v9. For info for those using Garmin sat-nav's, City Navigator Europe NT 2008 has been available since February this year, and the coverage of eastern Europe has improved significantly from CN 9NT. Lots of other improved coverage too.

For portable sat-nav's I'd suggest updating the cartography to the latest edition every two years unless you have specific needs that the next version addresses. After 4-5 years consider replacing the sat-nav unit itself due to improvements in processing technology that allow additional routing attributes to be used.

Garbage in garbage out, that what you get.

 

[st13phil]

Correct. The trouble is that many people have been lead to believe that sat-nav's give perfect instructions. They don't, they're only as good as the cartography they're working with. Just as new roads may not be shown on a paper map that's a year or two old the sat-nav doesn't "know" about them either.

 

[glojo]

Sat Nav are amazing technology. A lot of works had been put into it for years. It started in ship and airline navigation. Without it they have to rely on the Polar star..

Don't know about that? Before GPS I was using both Decca and LORAN, no doubt there was also other technologies. There should ALWAYS be a place for conventional navigation and it would be a bad day indeed if this were abolished .

Decca had a daytime range at best of 400 miles, but Loran would see that figure at least treble, but as with all technology these systems are now only found in museums and the transmitters have all probably been shut down

I smiled when someone mentioned Boston and COMAND! We had to visit the crematorium in this town and boy, talk about frustrating! We had the Pioneer navigation system and periodically we would see the brown sign showing the way to this location, then the navigation system would tell us to turn left or right and guess what! We would land up in a cul de sac, pedestrian only area ore one way street going the wrong way and that was with a Pioneer system!

My personal thoughts are that ANY navigation system will never beat local knowledge! We should treat the excellent items as aids, but never totally rely on them.

Yes we eventually got to Boston crematorium, but boy I felt like placing our navigation system on top of the coffin!

Great aid but far from perfect.

John

 

[oldcro]

Don't know about that? Before GPS I was using both Decca and LORAN, no doubt there was also other technologies. There should ALWAYS be a place for conventional navigation and it would be a bad day indeed if this were abolished .

Decca had a daytime range at best of 400 miles, but Loran would see that figure at least treble, but as with all technology these systems are now only found in museums and the transmitters have all probably been shut down

I smiled when someone mentioned Boston and COMAND! We had to visit the crematorium in this town and boy, talk about frustrating! We had the Pioneer navigation system and periodically we would see the brown sign showing the way to this location, then the navigation system would tell us to turn left or right and guess what! We would land up in a cul de sac, pedestrian only area ore one way street going the wrong way and that was with a Pioneer system!

My personal thoughts are that ANY navigation system will never beat local knowledge! We should treat the excellent items as aids, but never totally rely on them.

Yes we eventually got to Boston crematorium, but boy I felt like placing our navigation system on top of the coffin!

Great aid but far from perfect.

John

John, the reference to Boston and the big dig was about Boston, Massachusetts, USA. No wonder you had such a job finding the crematorium.

 

[Dragon]

Don't know about that? Before GPS I was using both Decca and LORAN, no doubt there was also other technologies. There should ALWAYS be a place for conventional navigation and it would be a bad day indeed if this were abolished .

Decca had a daytime range at best of 400 miles, but Loran would see that figure at least treble, but as with all technology these systems are now only found in museums and the transmitters have all probably been shut down

I smiled when someone mentioned Boston and COMAND! We had to visit the crematorium in this town and boy, talk about frustrating! We had the Pioneer navigation system and periodically we would see the brown sign showing the way to this location, then the navigation system would tell us to turn left or right and guess what! We would land up in a cul de sac, pedestrian only area ore one way street going the wrong way and that was with a Pioneer system!

My personal thoughts are that ANY navigation system will never beat local knowledge! We should treat the excellent items as aids, but never totally rely on them.

Yes we eventually got to Boston crematorium, but boy I felt like placing our navigation system on top of the coffin!

Great aid but far from perfect.

John

Use Googlemap, you don't even need to leave your chair.

Decca? I thought it long gone in the 80s.

 

[crockers]

John, the reference to Boston and the big dig was about Boston, Massachusetts, USA. No wonder you had such a job finding the crematorium.

PMSL.........

I can imagine John now trying to drive to the USA..........

 

[glojo]

John, the reference to Boston and the big dig was about Boston, Massachusetts, USA. No wonder you had such a job finding the crematorium.

Ouch I don't think the DVD covers the US.

Regards
John

 

[prprandall51]

John, the reference to Boston and the big dig was about Boston, Massachusetts, USA. No wonder you had such a job finding the crematorium.

Even though in-car navigation is a US invention, mapping detail in the USA has always lagged behind that in Europe - possibly because nobody has faught any wars in mainland USA since.. the Civil War? You need a good war to really get your cartography up to date.

 

[st13phil]

You need a good war to really get your cartography up to date.

Yup, I suspect you're right

 

[Mark300SL]

I use TomTom6 mobile loaded onto my N73 phone and a bluetooth puck, This way I always have Sat Nav regardless of the vehicle I'm in

It gets me wherever I need to go in the UK, and got me all over Arizona and California last year without a hitch. Very occasionally it comes across roads it doesnt know and I will compensate for that.

I mainly use it for "last mile" navigation and ETA calculations, I can find my way to most towns in mainland Britain without a map, but navigation in town makes it worth every penny. One small investment about 4 years ago has lasted for ages and I can forgive it the occasional map error

 

[glojo]

Use Googlemap, you don't even need to leave your chair.

Decca? I thought it long gone in the 80s.

Googlemap is hardly of any use when in our stretched limo which does not have a computer.

We had Decca in or boat in the early eighties it was blooming expensive compared to modern, more accurate GPS and on a very good day .... was accurate to within about 30 - 40 metres. No comparison to GPS in capibilities or funcionality, but far, far more accurate than conventional navigation methods.

John